Kelly, Warren, Colleagues Press Hegseth on Pentagon Gutting Civilian Protection Efforts Amid War in Iran

Pentagon's independent watchdog found that Trump administration defunded and blocked reforms to protect civilians during war, potentially violating federal law

This week, Senator and Navy combat veteran Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and eight of their Democratic colleagues in pressing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the Department of Defense's (DoD) defunding and deprioritizing of programs that prevent and respond to civilian harm in war. The letter follows a new report by the DoD Inspector General (DoD IG), which found that under Hegseth's leadership, DoD has put service members and civilians at risk and has potentially violated federal law. It also follows the recent U.S. military strikes on Iranian water treatment facilities, which damaged thousands of civilians' access to drinking water.

"The Trump administration's military adventurism overseas, combined with its obvious disregard for civilians, do not make the American people or our service members safer. We, therefore, request clarification about the steps the Department is taking to address these deficiencies and to protect civilians in line with the Department's strategic, legal, and moral obligations," wrote the senators.

In May, the DoD IG released a review of DoD's implementation of its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP), which found that the Trump administration may have violated federal law by defunding and blocking civilian protection efforts.

"The Department's failure to implement the CHMR-AP has profound consequences for civilians in conflict zones and makes service members' jobs harder and riskier," wrote the senators.

The lawmakers pressed Secretary Hegseth to explain DoD's failure to implement civilian protection policies, account for changes in resourcing and staffing for civilian protection efforts, explain what DoD is doing to comply with federal law requiring civilian protection policies and institutions, and provide any analysis DoD has done on the impact of recent strikes on civilian infrastructure in Iran.

Kelly and Warren were joined by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) along with Representatives Jason Crow (D-CO-06) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51).

Background:

The letter builds on Kelly's work to hold DoD accountable for putting servicemembers and civilians in harm's way. In May, Kelly pressed CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper on the DoD's gutting of Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) staff. During that hearing, Kelly also asked Cooper about the civilian casualty count from the war in Iran, including the strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab that reportedly killed at least 168 people, mostly children.

Click here to read the full text of the letter.